Emergency services attend new ‘incident’ in Salisbury

Emergency services have sealed off a restaurant in Salisbury and closed streets after people were taken ill.

Amanda Newton, who was sitting next to the couple, claims she and others will now have to undergo blood tests.

“A nice meal in Prezzo turns into a major incident as two people sitting next to us take seriously ill and the whole area is closed. We are being taken to a safe place and may need blood tests at Salisbury hospital.”

Feeling a little apprehensive as Salisbury leaps to action again when 2 Russians are taken I’ll in Prezzos showing the same symptoms as before ….. AND WE WERE SITTING NEXT TO THEM ! Now under police supervision waiting for medical team to give us the all clear ! pic.twitter.com/vedFfPot72

After contacting the local health board, I was informed that Salisbury District Hospital is on standby to receive patients involved in the incident. It is understood that other diners in the restaurant are also being taken to the hospital.

Sam Proudfoot said that there was “a man in a full white body suit with a mouth mask”:

Trouble in Salisbury again on New Street near the cathedral, no sign of what’s happened but there’s 1 fire engine, 1 ambulance and 4 police cars, a man in a full white body suit with a mouth-mask and police not allowed to tell us what’s happening @BBCNews@SpireFM@SkyNewspic.twitter.com/3XpNVkH9or

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesman said the couple were awake when medics arrived and are being treated at the scene but there is no indication of their identity. They added there were four ambulances at the scene and the Hazardous Area Response Teams (HART) are also there.

There are fears that this is a repeat of a previous incident in March this year in which a former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury with a Novichok nerve agent.

I can’t help thinking that, considering the resources at hand with a state actor, that this is not the most efficient way of killing someone. They could easily have killed the people off and made it look like an accident or random killing.

Yes it makes a point, but equally in a period where the sanctions are having an economic impact on Russia, why make it so obvious that it is Russia behind it.

We know that the substance was made in Russia, but there is no way of knowing if it stayed under control of Russia, which considering the amount of military equipment that makes its way into the black market, is questionable.

Equally there would be no benefit from a western country doing this, since why make things worse with a nuclear power, its not a rational move.

Could it be a third party is behind this, trying to ensure relations between the West and Russia remain icy. Just a thought, as it just feels odd to me.

On the flip side, it for sure makes a point to anyone that is working against the Russian government and doing it in the UK rather than the US, means there will be zero come back from it, after all keep bottling putting our own sanctions on Russia and instead hide behind the EU not doing it.

Let’s assume for a moment it was actually Russia. It could be that they wanted it to clearly link back to the regime in every way but one that is actually provable, and if that was the case then the trade craft is pretty perfect.

The only reason they would want to do this, is if they were worried about someone else talking / defecting and wanted to make a clear message on what would happen if they did. A little over the top if you ask me, but possible.

The bit that doesn’t add up is why would they care. The era where Russia was technically challenging the west is over and so leaking of state secrets seems unlikely. Maybe it is something more personal to Putin or another top person in the kremlin, that they don’t want their own people to know about, for example big time defrauding the country, but then again that has been going on for a long time in Russia so why would anyone be surprised or bothered by it.

Great for speculating, but I can not come up with a story that really fits.